Dutch Home Care (Thuiszorg): Vocabulary for Working in Someone Else's Home

Dutch care is deliberately organised so that people stay at home for as long as possible, and that decision is written into the law. Since 2015 the Zorgverzekeringswet has paid for wijkverpleging, district nursing in the home, while the Wmo has made municipalities responsible for everyday support such as housekeeping and day activities. The result is that most Dutch care work happens in somebody's living room.

Working in someone's own home changes the language. You are no longer a professional inside your own building; you are a guest who has been given a key, and the vocabulary, the questions and the small talk all reflect that shift.

Who Is Who

The first thing to learn in thuiszorg is the difference between the people you will meet on a shift.

Dutch term	English meaning
de cliënt	the client, not "patient"
de mantelzorger	the family carer
de wijkverpleegkundige	the district nurse
de verzorgende IG	the qualified care worker
de helpende	the care assistant
de zorgaanbieder	the care provider organisation
de indicatie	the formal entitlement to care
het zorgplan	the care plan

Note the word cliënt. Dutch care has largely dropped patiënt for people receiving long-term help, and using the right word signals that you understand the sector as well as the language. It is a small example of why it pays to learn Dutch for care work specifically rather than Dutch in general.

The Care Process, Step by Step

Home care in the Netherlands follows a defined route, and each step has a name that appears on your schedule.

Dutch term	English meaning
de melding	the first report that something is needed
het keukentafelgesprek	the conversation with the municipality
de indicatie	the decision on what will be paid for
het zorgplan	the plan you work from
de overdracht	the handover
de evaluatie	the review meeting

The keukentafelgesprek is the famous one. The municipality sends a representative to the person's kitchen, rather than requiring a form, to establish what is needed and what the household's own network can provide. Being able to describe that conversation is a standard interview question in Dutch care.

Practical Tasks and Their Verbs

The everyday work has its own verb set, and it is plainer than the paperwork.

Dutch verb	English meaning
wassen en aankleden	washing and dressing
steunkousen aantrekken	putting on compression stockings
tillen en verplaatsen	lifting and moving
medicatie aanreiken	administering medication
wondzorg uitvoeren	carrying out wound care
het huishouden doen	doing the housekeeping
de boodschappen doen	doing the shopping

Two of these deserve attention. Steunkousen are compression stockings, and they are the task most often listed in a Dutch home-care schedule. Wondzorg is wound care, and at home you will often be asked to photograph a wound for the district nurse rather than judge it yourself.

The Domains an Assessor Listens For

Dutch term	English meaning
de lichamelijke verzorging	physical personal care
de mobiliteit	getting around
de huishouding	running the household
de sociale contacten	social contact
de veiligheid thuis	safety at home
de zelfredzaamheid	managing independently

Dutch assessments describe function rather than illness, and these six headings are the ones a wijkverpleegkundige uses when writing a zorgplan. A client who can still dress but cannot safely reach the bathroom scores differently from one who cannot dress at all, and that distinction decides the hours granted.

Equipment, Aids and Their Names

Dutch term	English meaning
de tillift	the hoist
de rollator	the walking frame
het verpleegbed	the nursing bed
de antidecubitusmatras	the pressure-relieving mattress
de steunkousen	compression stockings
het wondverband	the wound dressing
de medicijndispenser	the medication dispenser
het hulpmiddel	the aid or device

Most of these come through the Wmo or through the health insurer rather than being bought, and the request goes through the same keukentafelgesprek as everything else. Knowing which body supplies an aid saves a client weeks of waiting.

Learning the list is also a safety matter. A hoist used with the wrong sling, or a pressure mattress fitted the wrong way round, is a reportable incident, and the words for reporting it are the words you have just learned.

Working with the Family Carer

Dutch term	English meaning
de mantelzorger	the family carer
de overbelasting	carer burnout
de respijtzorg	respite care
het steunpunt mantelzorg	the carer support centre
de dagopvang	day care for the client
het netwerkgesprek	the network conversation

Dutch policy assumes that a family carer will do a great deal, which is why carer burnout is treated as a recognised risk rather than a private problem. Respite care, respijtzorg, exists specifically to give that carer a break, and mentioning it in a care plan is normal practice rather than an accusation.

Talking in Someone Else's Home

The register in a client's home is informal but careful, and Dutch has a comfortable middle ground here that is neither stiff nor casual.

Dutch phrase	What it does
"Ik kom u even helpen met..."	introduces the task
"Vindt u het goed als ik...?"	asks permission
"Zegt u het maar als het pijn doet."	invites a stop signal
"Ik doe even de deur dicht voor uw privacy."	protects dignity
"Wilt u dat ik dit aan uw dochter vertel?"	checks consent for sharing

That last one matters legally. Passing information to a mantelzorger requires the client's agreement unless the family carer holds formal authority, and in the Netherlands the arrangement is recorded in the zorgplan rather than assumed.

Getting Work in Dutch Home Care

Agencies and home-care organisations both recruit, and speaking Dutch at the level of the client's living room is the entry requirement rather than a bonus. The qualification you will hear named is verzorgende IG, niveau 3, and the nursing variants are registered in the BIG register.

Interviews usually include a scenario: an older man refuses to let you in, or a daughter tells you her mother fell yesterday and asks you not to record it. Your answer is judged as much on the words you choose as on the decision you make. If you want to learn Dutch for this work, learn the consent phrases first, because that is where a newcomer is most quickly trusted.

Home care in the Netherlands follows this order; the bars show sequence, not the time each step takes.

Care in the Netherlands happens in people's own homes. Learn Dutch with thuiszorg, the zorgplan and consent phrases built into the course.

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